


Been a long time

by cynicAltruist



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Collegestuck, Incest, M/M, Roleplay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-14
Updated: 2014-05-14
Packaged: 2018-01-24 16:57:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1612499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cynicAltruist/pseuds/cynicAltruist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Eridan and Cronus become roommates in college after Eridan has been studying abroad in England for about 10 years. Roleplay format. I've got no idea where this is going.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Been a long time

**Author's Note:**

> I'm the Eridan, and the Cronus would rather remain unnamed. uwu

Eridan stood in front of his dorm room arrogantly, one hand on the thin metal handle of his suitcase and the other in his pocket, somewhat nervously turning his keys between his fingers. He knew from past boarding schools that there was no way in hell he would be able to room with a girl, it was still one of the thin strands of hope he kept. He really didn't want to room with another guy, especially not one as hot as the last one. God, just thinking about what had happened with Dave made him cringe. Back to the task at hand, though. 

Shoving the metal into the lock, turning it in the hole, and opening the door before he shoved the keys back into his waiting pockets, he stood tall to meet his new roommate. Or rather, he would have, except he had just stepped into something completely disgusting. Oh fuck, this was going to be awful. How did this guy even have the time to scatter shit everywhere already, let alone...a half rotted banana? He glanced upward at his new roommate, wiping his foot off onto the carpet with a somewhat disgusted face. "How-w does one even manage to be so sloppy in such a short amount of time?"

\--  
The first impression one received about room 214 was a comfy little purple mat that laid innocently in front of the door obviously meant for people to wipe their feet on before stepping into the room. The second thing that people usually noticed was the fact that the innards of the entire room had been completely rearranged. The headrests of both twin beds were up side by side and pressed up against the far wall, making the now-full sized bed the centerpiece and dividing line of the room. The displaced desks were set haphazardly aside to one corner while the closets were closer to the bathroom door. Whoever had laid out the room definitely had purpose in mind. But, that being said, they obviously weren't the cleanliest either. 

But hey. A guy's got a lot on his mind. And why should /he/ have to be responsible for cleaning anyway? He could pay someone to do that. Easily. 

A knock on the door caught the boy's attention, and a magazine dropped onto the bare chest of the one, the only, Cronus Ampora. He was sprawled lazily in the center of the two beds, his shirt discarded somewhere on the floor along with his messily opened suitcase, a variety of articles strewn about. This room had been his and his alone for the two years that he'd already gone to "English Academy", named after some bigwig who couldn't get enough of himself (hah! what a poser), and Cronus was used to this configuration. It was at the end of last semester that he'd received a notification that he'd been assigned a roommate, and that had been a slight bummer. But hey. Maybe the guy would be a choice piece of ass. And it was for exactly that reason that Cronus had opted to make the most dramatic first impression possible. Maybe he was gay, and he'd be attracted to Cronus' undeniable sexiness. Maybe Cronus could open his eyes to the /real/ Ampora image before that piece of trash Captor went and spread more fucking lies. 

Or maybe he'd just bail and get a new room like the last three had. 

Whatever, Cronus figured. He had been dozing lightly, waiting for his new acquaintance, but before he even opened his eyes he was cut off by a snarky remark. Pff. What a voice. Cronus' first impression of his new roommate was the ridiculous stutter he boasted, as well as the slight British accent. The first wasn't particularly sexy, but he could deal, as long as this guy didn't cramp his-- 

...wait a second. 

Nobody in the fucking /world/ could replicate that stutter. 

Cronus' eyes flew open as the realization hit him like a brick. "Eri, is that you?" Disbelief colored the male's voice as he sat up, his Playboy browsing all but forgotten as a face from his childhood resurfaced for the first time in... god knows how long. "Jesus Christ, I thought you moved to England! What the hell are you doing in America?"

\--

He had barely had a chance to take in his surroundings when his ears were assaulted with a voice that he had thought he would never hear again. This had to be some kind of joke, there was no way that he would just happen to be rooming with Cronus, of all the fucking people that went to this school. He didn't want to think about the probability of this happening, it was probably somewhere around how likely it was to win the jackpot for the lottery or something. Meaning ridiculously low. Meaning that this entire situation should have been so close to impossible that it was something that didn't even cross fates mind. 

He let go of the handle of his suitcase with a somewhat startled grin, ignoring the disgusting mess of molded banana smeared on the bottom of his shoe for now in favor of gawking at Cronus. He was obviously doing pretty well, well enough at least to be half naked on a bed that had been pushed together at some point and flipping through a Playboy when he definitely knew that he would be getting a new roommate. That was just like Cronus from what he could remember, not really giving a shit about what other people thought-or at least pretending to. It really had been a long time, though, so long that Eridan had nearly forgotten about his old friend, memories about him fading as the years went by and he met more people that pushed Cronus out of his mental list of people that Eridan knew. 

"Cro?" he replied, though it was already well established that both of them knew who the other was and were both just shocked to see each other after such a long time. "Holy shit, it really is you. I can't fuckin believe... Bloody hell, you grew-w up." 

He took a step closer to Cronus, looking him over with eyes that were still somewhat disbelieving. 

"W-well, it turned out that England w-wasn't exactly the place for me. I just had a few-w problems there that I... W-well, I basically ran straight aw-way from 'em, came back to the States w-with my tail tucked betw-ween my legs. Mum and Dad said that I had to enroll somew-where, so I came here. W-what about you, though? I though you w-were in California?" 

They had both been living in California when Eridan moved to London. He could still remember the party that they had thrown to celebrate his leaving, though it was somewhat obvious to him even then that most people had been upset he was leaving, but were quiet about it. Except Cronus, of course, who had shoved Eridan's face directly into the cake and just cackled at him when he got angry and began throwing chunks of cake at him. That was the last that he had heard of Cronus, neither of them having his own phone at the time Eridan left, leaving them with an almost completely severed link until now.

\--

Now /there/ was a sight for sorry eyes. "You're tellin' me," Cronus grinned as soon as Eridan complimented him, returning it without a batted eyelash. "When did you get so fashion conscious? What, are you a model now?" He sat up off of his bed, bouncing off and onto the floor before taking casual strides towards his cousin. Second removed, but family nonetheless. 

"Man, talk about chance encounter. Let's just say Cali worked out the same way. Some shit went down with an ex; she turned out to be psychotic, so I got the fuck outta dodge. My parents got sick of dealing with me at home; they thought I was being dramatic, so they set me up here." Cronus gave a snort, stopping a few steps away from Eridan. Cro was a couple of weeks older than him, but the difference was negligible-- their height, on the other hand, wasn't. Cronus tilted his head down to look at his cousin, and a slightly gloating smirk touched his lips. 5' 11" was a nice touch to his suave image. Chicks were always into the height difference thing. 

All things considered, Cronus had kicked puberty in the ass. He'd finally found the style that complimented his facial structure-- and it was one that involved slicked back hair, lean yet defined muscles, and tight black jeans. He didn't wear any shoes inside of his dorm, his Toms set neatly against the wall (in contrast to the rest of the room), but he looked to be completely in his element without his shirt. He wasn't the same immature, attention-seeking kid that he used to be. He wasn't a cake-shoving, taunt-throwing punk who was desperate for any affection he could receive. He'd gotten over those issues. Shoved them under a rug. But looking at Eridan, some of them came back. And the smirk was replaced by a smile that sort-of kinda felt genuine. 

"Never thought I'd actually see you again, but I'll be the first to say it: wvelcome back." 

And then his heart-felt feelings and his corrected lisp were masked by the douchebag facade he had so carefully crafted over the past thirteen years. 

"So? No kiss, no hug, no 'I missed you'?" Cronus asked, a haughty, sort of mocking tone in his voice. "It's alright, I know you're thinking it, but I'll take your number as compensation." His eyebrows raised accordingly, flashing a playfully suggestive smile.

\--

The corner of his lip quirked upward at Cronus's comment. That wasn't the first time that he had been complimented on his looks, of course, but seeing as Cronus had very much won at puberty, it was more of a compliment than when most told him, especially because they had known each other when Eridan had been a chubby little nerd that wore only Harry Potter shirts for years. He knew better than that, now, especially since when he moved to London it seemed a bit...British weeaboish. He replied with a small scoff in his tone, "Modelin' agencies w-wish that I w-would model for them." 

He was struck by the fact that though he had grown as well, Cronus had definitely done the most out of the two of them. Eridan wasn't short, per se, but Cronus had to have been at least 4 inches taller than him. Damn. "Sounds about right, pretty close to w-what I did, at least. 'Cept he w-was just a roommate, so there w-wasn't anythin serious betw-ween us." He let out an involuntary snort at the part about drama, not surprised from the few things that he remembered his cousin doing when he was younger. "They kicked you out for bein' a drama queen, then?" he said, chuckling a bit under his breath. 

The fact was, though, that Cronus looked just like a douchebag, no matter how much he tried do ignore it because of their being related. It was obvious that he thought highly of himself-for good reason, of course- but perhaps too much. The small smirk on his lips told him that much, at least, but that train of thought was interrupted by the extremely late realization of his that Cronus didn't have a fucking shirt on and that it was kind of attractive in a totally not gay or incestuous way. As in, if he were some unrelated female, he would definitely do the horizontal tango with him. Yep, it was time to stop thinking about things like that. 

"Yeah, it's good to be back. As w-wonderful as London w-was, I definitely prefer bein closer home to home." 

Cronus's about-face caught him off guard, especially because only a second ago he had been smiling almost warmly at Eridan and now he was acting the exact degree of douchebag that he seemed to be from just looking at him. 

"Oh yes," he swooned, batting his eyelashes in an overly exaggerated manner at his cousin, "You've just sw-wept me off a my feet. But you'll have to w-wine an dine me first," he teased with a grin.

\--

"Maybe they'd let you model for me too." Cronus smirked, his eyes casually raking down Eridan's body. He wasn't the type to go after family members, but hot damn was he looking good. Cronus honestly never would have considered Eridan the type to have an ectomorphic build when he shed the baby fat, but he had a nice set of shoulders, and he held himself tall. Better than most of the dweebs that prowled around campus, anyway, and Cronus was glad to see that there was at least /someone/ that had levels of self confidence that were somewhat close to his own. 

"A roommate, huh? Wow, Eri, I didn't know you swung that way." Cronus' lips pulled into a tease. Interesting. Maybe bisexuality ran in the family or something, even though Cro identified as pan. "You should tell me about it. And hey, watch it. I'm not a drama queen. I'm the /king/, remember?" Cronus gave a haughty laugh, giving Eridan a hearty clap on the shoulder. 

"I'll take you out to the finest dining that English Academy doesn't have to offer. And by that, I mean the cafeteria is shit and you should never, /evwer/ go there." The emphasis messed up Cronus' concentration, and his lisp slipped out again, but he was earnestly happy to see his cousin again. He wasn't going to show it, of course, cause that would open all sorts of doors to Cronus' delicate psyche, but he was all too ready to throw down flirtatious teases like cheap cigars. 

"Anyway, I hope you don't mind that I rearranged the room. Used to have this place all to myself and I didn't really think a roommate would actually show up." Cronus chortled at this, shaking his head before he leaned around Eridan, taking the suitcase handle from his hand. "So yeah, get comfy, set up your desk, yada yada. I'm not in the mood to redecorate twice, but I promise I'm nice in bed." Cronus wrapped up with a wink, turning away to wheel the decently sized luggage tote to the closet that wasn't partially opened. 

"Do you have any administrative processes left to complete, by the way? Cause if you do, get them done now. I don't need the fucking Condesce breathing down my neck while she's looking for your paperwork." Cronus glanced over his shoulder, parking Eridan's bag.

\--

An eyebrow raised at Cronus's not so subtle flirting, but he decided that it wouldn't hurt to play along if he was just joking about it. Nope, there was no way for that to end badly at all. Eridan was so good at making decisions. "Oh, you w-would like that, w-wouldn't you?" he said, the attempted purr in his voice being fucked up majorly by the stutter that he still hadn't managed to get rid of after all these years. That was the one thing that he couldn't stand about himself. The rest, he could deal with, and actually was quite pleased with. In fact, he was drop dead handsome. His entire face was a masterpiece in it's own right, and that wasn't even taking the rest of his body into consideration. 

Ouch, of course Cronus would have chosen to expand on that. He winced a bit both because of how unpleasant the memory was and Cronus's smacking of his shoulder (which only contributed because it caught him by SURPRISE, not that it hurt or anything). "W-well first of all, I don't fuckin sw-win that w-way. At all. I'm as straight as a," he paused for a moment, trying to think of something straight but only being able to think of rainbows and boners, "straight as a ruler. Yeah, that's w-what I am, Your Dramatic Majesty." 

He had guessed that the cafeteria food would be awful, and was glad that Cronus confirmed it for him without his having to try eating something there. 

"Thanks for the heads up," he drawled with a last second smile that appeared because of Cronus's slight reversion in speech pattern. It was something familiar that was comforting somehow. "Is there anyw-where around here that has food that approaches decent?" 

Eridan didn't mind in the slightest, especially since they had slept together plenty of times when they were younger. "It's totally fine," he said, "after all, it's not every day that you get to sleep next to someone that's almost as attractive as you are. Chicks'll be peerin in the w-window-w, w-wishin that they w-were betw-ween the tw-wo a us." He could save unpacking and arranging his stuff for later. After all, he had a couple of days before he had to get to class, and even then he would be able to live without unpacking all of his stuff. Usually he'd be unpacking straight off the bat, but Cronus was much more interesting than arranging his shirts in the dresser that looked slightly too small anyway. 

"I don't have anythin at all left to do in the office, Cro," he replied. He had already made sure he was clear of the paperwork. In fact, he had just come to the room from the office, hence a hastily stuffed in sheet of paper that was poking out of one of the pockets of his suitcase.

\--

"Was it that obvwious?" Cronus rolled his eyes in Eridan's direction, his smirk growing a little wider. Good. There had always been a reason Cronus liked Eridan over his other cousins. The easy-going gestures of flirtation were almost natural. And now that he was more refined about his methods of interaction (he WAS a gent, after all), Cronus was sure that they'd be able to get along. Last year, he'd been griping to some of his friends about getting a roommate. Now, he wasn't upset about it. Not at all. 

Cronus had his back to Eridan by the time he winced, and he snorted excessively loudly at the boy's response. "Sure, w-whatevver." Cronus mimicked Eridan's speech impediment, laughing to himself. "Just keep telling yourself that. It's cute to be in denial, but we both know you're attracted to me." The older male cast his cousin a casual glance with a wink. "I can wait, though. No rush." 

Cronus left Eridan's bag next to his dresser, then walked over to the bed. The magazine was picked up and tossed to the opposite side of the room, hitting the side of Cronus' desk before falling short and flopping onto the floor. "Damn," he muttered. Not very cool looking, but he played it off by turning around and hopping onto the bed, tucking his hands underneath his head. "The only place I can tolerate is a seafood specialty store, but it's off campus. Maybe if our schedules work out, we can go there sometime." Cro mused as he stared at the ceiling. He'd already eaten lunch and it was barely mid-afternoon, but there was a third meal in the day. "Tonight, if you want." 

His lips twitched into a grin, and a set of chocolate brown eyes slid from the peeling paint to the other sex-dripping bod standing in the room. Cro gave another neat appraisal, lingering on his lips and hips, but he didn't forget his catty response. "An exhibition kink? I can work with that. The blinds come off," Cronus said matter-of-factly. "We could make a nice sum of money offering that service, too." He smirked, then lazy waved a hand at his cousin. 

"If you're done with the burecratic bullshit, then that means there's just one last thing to do. C'mere, Eri. It's been what, ten minutes, and I haven't gotten a hug? I was serious when I asked about it earlier. Rude!" Cronus teased, sitting up in the bed to show a perfect smile. "Blood's thicker than water, 'cous. Show some compassion, would you?"

\--

"Oh, no," Eridan replied, batting his eyes in mock sincerity, "I had no idea. I w-was just hedgin my bets an hopin that you really did perceive my sex god w-worthy body as it truly is." He had thought that having a roommate would be incredibly annoying in the best possible scenario, but he could see himself living with Cronus and not ending up avoiding the entire building and staying in a cheap hotel for a bit longer than a semester similar to how he had last year. 

Pressing a hand to his chest as if deeply affronted, Eridan breathily said, "Oh yes. I can feel it... My heterosexuality is slow-wly w-weakenin an beginnin to shrivel up in the face of your indisputable handsomeness." He clenched his fist over his heart, glancing over at Cronus with an expression that could only be described as anime school girl, "Oh, Cro, I'm positively sw-woonin over here for you. Its just... W-we can't. W-we're too closely related." He paused minutely before unleashing what someone-he couldn't remember who- had called his special talent. Real, substantial tears fell from his eyes as he quoted, "Cronus, Cronus, wherefore art thou Cronus?" 

Almost immediately after, Eridan rubbed the liquid from his eyes and flashed a grin up at his cousin. Or rather, over at his cousin as he saw the other entirely miss his desk with the Playboy he had been reading. Odd thing to be reading when he knew that he was getting a roommate, he thought, but it was Cronus. There had always been something oddly sexual about him, even when he was a kid and especially now that he was around 6 feet of sex god-like stature. Clearing his throat a bit to unsettle the lump that had formed in his esophagus after even that little bit of fake crying, he announced, "I w-would like that. Alw-ways good to w-wine an dine someone you're interested in. Show-ws that you're a gentleman." 

This was getting a little awkward to be just playful banter between cousins. He could actually feel the blood rushing to the tips of his ears, and tilted his head forward so that the stray ends of his hair could hide the flush. "Like w-w actually need that money," he murmured, forcing a bit of a scoff into his tone. Hopefully Cronus would get the signal that he should back off on that for a bit. 

Cronus had actually meant what he said when asking for a hug earlier? He took in a deep, measured breath as quietly as he could before slowly letting it out. Hopefully his blushing had died down a bit, and he wouldn't look like an idiot. "Oh, so sorry," he simpered, "It must have just escaped my thoughts." He strode over to the bed, plopping himself down next to Cronus and outstretching his arms.

\--

"You hedged your bet, eh? Well either you and I should visit a casino or I should get less predictable." Cronus responded humorously, not failing to grin at Eridan's (oddly feminine) eyelash batting. He didn't flinch at the fake tears-- that was the trick that had gotten Cro in trouble during one of the family reunions ever so long ago. A small smirk upturned the male's lips as soon as Eridan dropped the act, and a snort made its way out of his chest. "Good to see you're still the same damn drama queen I used to know." 

Cronus nodded in approval when Eridan recognized that Cro indeed was a gentleman. Of course he wouldn't just swing by and pick somone up for the hell of it-- that was for horny teenagers who couldn't wait to fuck a warm hole outside of their own right hand. No, he was past that stage. He had matured. He was a legal adult, for Christ's sake! And all proper men wooed their women through displays of affluence and charm. The plans were already starting to unfold in Cronus' head, even as the cousins stood and laid together in their admittedly modest dorm room. The ladies would be all over them as soon as it got out they were related. With all of the attention, a casino visit, their combined bank accounts, the sex service; they could live like Kings!... 

Oh. 

Cronus immediately stepped off, his seductive grin vanishing in an instant. He recognized the face of disinterest before Eridan even had the time to frown. He'd grown accustomed to seeing it. Not to say that it wasn't surprising to see his cousin wearing such an expression. "Sorry doll," Cronus murmured in a brief show of earnest concern. Sure he wanted to have fun with his cousin-now-roommate, but he didn't want to make the guy uncomfortable in the process. Some people just weren't as open to experimentation as he was. He could respect that. Understand it? Not really. But people had boundaries and Cro wasn't the type to wittingly cross them. After all, if he pissed somebody off, that would greatly decrease his chances of scoring them later. 

The hug was taken without a moment of hesitation, though it was Cronus who showed dominance by pulling Eridan's shoulders into his bare chest. "Finally!" He exclaimed with slight exasperation, though it was easy to tell Cro was smiling as he gave a good-natured chuckle. "You really know how to keep a man waiting for what he wants, don't you?" 

A hand then very causally ruffled the back of Eridan's head, and then Cro was gone, laughing as he danced a short distance away from the bed, avoiding the possibility of a slap. He knew how protective Eridan used to be about his hair, and he'd been too curious not to test if he was still obsessed with it.

\--

Eridan's lips twisted into a grin, "I have a feelin that it w-wouldn't be w-wise for us to as much as approach a casino if w-we're basin the idea off a my bein able to see that you're able to see my painfully attractive physique for w-what it really is. I have a feelin that you w-would be quite disappointed w-with the results." It was a bit disappointing that Cronus didn't do anything to acknowledge his tears other than just just smile and kind of blow it off. "W-well," he started, false modesty nearly dripping from every word, "I w-would have to be, seein as you're the kin." 

Watching Cronus as he thought for a second, he wondered what the hell was going on in that strangely attractive head of his. Strangely attractive meaning that it was so similar to his own face that he couldn't believe it. After all, he had always said that the only guy that he would ever do the do with was himself, because nobody else was up to par. Cronus was like a taller, more muscular version of Eridan, and that might present some problems in the future. Who was he kidding, he wasn't gay and that would never cause any kind of problems. Sometimes his imagination got the better of him, into situations that he would never be less than 10 miles away from. He needed to just stop thinking about all of this shit. Jesus christ. 

Cronus had stepped off and away from the flirting far easier than Eridan thought that he was going to, but he guessed that that was just proof that it was hard to judge people by their strangely attractive, douchebagesque features and mannerisms. Shaking his head, he returned with an easy smile, "No, it's not a problem, Cro," the grin mainly present because he didn't have to be freaking out about how he may be viewed as some kind of homo by his cousin, who probably was about 50 shades of homo. Nevertheless, it seemed that Cronus got his not so subtle message, and that was one of the few pleasant things that could be said of this now slightly awkward situation. 

Hugging Cronus was oddly therapeutic, with the way that he pulled Eridan in and used his height advantage to make the spot inside his arms extremely comfortable in a way that Eridan wouldn't have thought was possible. His left cheek pressed against Cronus's collar bone as he wrapped his own arms around Cronus's midsection. "Mm, terrible a me to do, I know-w. Just aw-wful a me to delay this w-wonderful reunion embrace," he mumbled into Cronus's shirtless chest, feeling calmed the solid warmth of his cousin. 

Of course his asshole relative had managed to think of a way to ruin the perfectly good hug they had been sharing, by messing with the one part of his body that he cared the most about. He practically snarled, reaching for the nearest thing to him-which, lucky for Cronus, was a pillow- and hurled it at the figure that had vanished from around him. "You bloody arsehole! W-what the hell w-was that for?!"

\--

"Damn right I am," Cronus grunted in response, not-so-subtly flexing his muscles at the statement. He liked going to the gym and keeping himself in shape-- not that his godly charm needed any more help, but it was good to know that his masculinity wasn't being questioned. Some people liked to joke about his pansexuality and pretended that he was somehow less of a man because he was open to bedding with another man. He took it rather personally sometimes-- but that's beside the point. Back to being a flirty asshole of a cousin. 

The laughter was barely contained within his toned chest, one arm crossed over his stomach while the other was propped in a way that he could hold a hand in front of his mouth, stifling all of the comments he wanted to make. Usually he wasn't very conscious of what he told people (unless it was blatantly obvious that they'd get offended), but with Eridan, Cronus was interested in staying on his good side. They were roommates now, first off-- and second, if one of their parents found out that they were mistreating one another, they'd both have hell to pay. Pride was something that ran deep in the Ampora family, and news of fighting cousins would /not/ look good for Cronus' father's political career. 

"I just had to check to make sure you were still obsessed," Cronus finally managed, guffawing before giving a small yelp at the pillow. He caught it, then tossed it back playfully, a massive grin on his lips. "What, is it such a crime for me to be curious? You're heartless, DD," Cro pouted, using one of Eridan's various pet names. It was his personal favorite since it made Eridan sound like a girl, but he kept that thought to himself. "I mean, after all-- only you could be so protective of your 'do. Had to make sure it was really you, y'know?" He snickered. Now that he was up, Cronus took the time to step over to his closet, opening it before rifling through a duffel he hadn't bothered to unpack. A white tee with a small decal was slipped over his head, and he fitted it around his hips with two sharp tugs downwards before turning back to Eridan. 

"Now, as great as you look posing like that," Cronus said slyly, running his eyes over Eridan's body as he sat on the bed, "I have a frat meeting to go to. You can stay here if you want or you can come with-- you just have to be on your best behavior. Interested?" Cro offered, walking towards the door to grab his keys of the table, yanking his jacket off its assigned hook and slipping it on. "It's probably going to be a session full of Kankri running that pretty little mouth of his, but you never know. Maybe you could get an in with us at Alpha Epsi Omega." The deal was left hanging in the air between them as Cronus took the time to examine himself in a mirror, smoothing back the few strands that hadn't gotten as much gel as the others. He'd cleaned his face last night and he looked as attractive as ever-- Cronus still didn't understand why he had ladies all over his feet. 

But then again, his reputation preceded him at times. Gossip spread faster than a wildfire... Heh, wasn't that the truth. Good thing Meenah was so far out of his league he didn't worry about her anymore. She and her petty blunt aggression were beneath his coy ways. Besides, he had better fish to fry. Not bigger. /Better./ Kind of like Eridan, except not of the incestuous variety.

\--

Eridan had a disposition to pout at people when they touched his hair, something that he had developed nearly a decade ago when growing up with Cronus. Usually, it would either cause the elder cousin to feel bad enough that he would apologize and halfheartedly smooth the hair back into the place Eridan so meticulously groomed it into, but it had been years and he wasn't so sure that it would work. Besides, he was pretty sure that if he brought back that trademark pout, all he would get in compensation would be a chuckle from Cronus and the treatment that an eight year old deserved. 

He would put that off for now, and possibly bring it back once he gauged how much his cousin had changed in the time they were separated. Eridan could remember how close they had been to eachother, back when they both were a little too obsessed with the idea of wizards and magic. They had both been in the middle of that phase when Eridan left for England, and Eridan had no clue when Cronus had finally stopped believing that he would never get his Hogwarts letter. It struck him that people could view that as incredibly sad, in a way, like some kind of tragic story about two friends that were nearly brothers and one dying. 

Nah. He and Cronus were back together, and Eridan was almost positive that he was better off not having been around his cousin in the awkward years that it took for him to become the apparent douchebag that he was today. 

"Oh can it, Cro," he retorted grumpily, frown on his face as he lifted his hands to his hair to straighten out the strands Cronus knocked astray. He barely had time to register the fact that the pillow that had left his hands a few seconds ago was now traveling back to him, and simply moved his hand down from his hair to knock it onto the ground. Catching it would have been hard and most likely would have made him look like a complete idiot when he couldn't. "Oh god," he groaned, "Do you really have to call me by that godawful nickname? I liked it a lot better w-when you just called me Eri, CC." Two could play at the stupid pet names, especially when they were using such easy ones. He continued with his complaining, saying, "I'm pretty damn sure that you w-wouldn't have any trouble recognizin' me or w-whatever even if you w-were fuckin' blindfolded or some shit anyw-ways." 

Eridan gaped at his cousin, having thought that he got both the "I'm not gay" point across to him. Not to mention that they were related. Really, really closely related. As in, if they were any more related they would be siblings. The only thing that distracted him from that thought was Cronus saying that he had to leave because he was going to a fraternity meeting. He didn't know why he was surprised by that, possibly because from what he saw Cronus could be a somewhat unpleasant person, but he was. Not wanting to be a wet blanket and also more than a bit curious about how fraternities worked, he nodded, "Oh yes, I'll be on my best behavior. W-would you like for me to w-wear a leash an' collar as w-well so I don't mess up the furniture?" That was overdoing it a bit on the sarcasm, but had it really been necessary for Cronus to tell him to be on his best behavior? He thought not. That idea was amplified in his mind as he saw the guy fix his own hair, only a minute after he had finished with poking at Eridan because of his careful maintenance of his hairstyle. 

Not sure that Cronus would still want him coming after that bit of sarcasm, he stood anyways, grabbing the jacket that was stored in the front pocket of his suitcase and slipping it on.

**Author's Note:**

> if you wanna roleplay with me just drop a line at vvioletblooded.tumblr.com


End file.
